Vitztam at the scene
IsraelSeen Exclusive – Interrupting Prayers To Save Others
One evening in mid-August, a woman was cooking dinner for her 3 young children, when the pressure cooker exploded, spraying the entire area with scalding hot liquid. The mother screamed in pain and shock, sustaining severe burns to her face, hands and chest. The children sobbed in fear as the power went out, adding to their terror.
United Hatzalah volunteer EMT Elchanan Vitztam was at synagogue in his hometown of Petach Tikvah for afternoon prayers when he received the urgent alert from United Hatzalah dispatch. He quickly raced outside, got on his ambucycle and hurried to the nearby address, arriving first on the scene.
The woman’s children spotted the orange ambucycle with its lights flashing and quickly waved the Vitztam inside the darkened apartment to their injured mother. Vitztam held his flashlight in one hand, as he completed a rapid trauma assessment. He cooled and soothed the inflamed skin, treating the woman’s burns as he reassured both the patient and her panicked children. Another ambucycle medic soon joined Vitztam on location and found the fuse box, restoring power and central lighting.
When the intensive care ambulance arrived, 7 minutes later, the United Hatzalah EMTs briefed the crew and handed over a treated, fully prepped and stable patient for immediate evacuation to the burn unit. With the woman safely on her way to the hospital, Vitztam headed back to the synagogue, just in time to join the congregation for evening services.
Upon hearing about the incident, President and Founder of United Hatzalah Eli Beer said: “Elchanan, like all of our volunteers, knows that the greatest service to G-d as well as to one’s fellow man is saving a life. This takes precedence over everything else, it is our purpose as an organization, as volunteer EMTs or paramedics, and as people who care about our fellow men and women. Elchanan’s actions provided relief for a woman who was suffering. I am proud of him and his actions and all of the 5,000 volunteers like him.”
